| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Anabasis by Xenophon: pupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans,
and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him land
and property in Scillus, where he lived for many
years before having to move once more, to settle
in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.
The Anabasis is his story of the march to Persia
to aid Cyrus, who enlisted Greek help to try and
take the throne from Artaxerxes, and the ensuing
return of the Greeks, in which Xenophon played a
leading role. This occurred between 401 B.C. and
March 399 B.C.
Anabasis |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce: Cromwell's army exorcised a soldier's obsessing devil by throwing the
soldier into the water, when the devil came to the surface. The
soldier, unfortunately, did not.
OBSOLETE, adj. No longer used by the timid. Said chiefly of words.
A word which some lexicographer has marked obsolete is ever thereafter
an object of dread and loathing to the fool writer, but if it is a
good word and has no exact modern equivalent equally good, it is good
enough for the good writer. Indeed, a writer's attitude toward
"obsolete" words is as true a measure of his literary ability as
anything except the character of his work. A dictionary of obsolete
and obsolescent words would not only be singularly rich in strong and
The Devil's Dictionary |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Fanny Herself by Edna Ferber: more famous than her brother."'
"He said that! About me!"
"I am telling you as nearly as I can. He said, `Tell her it
was a woman who ruined Bauer's career, and caused him to end
his days a music teacher in--in--Gott! I can't remember the
name of that town----"
"Winnebago."
"Winnebago. That was it. `Tell her not to let the brother
spoil his life that way.' So. That is the message. He
said you would understand."
Theodore's face was ominous when she returned to him, after
Fanny Herself |
